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DISCOURSE 



ON THE OCCASION OF THE DEATH OF 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, 



NINTH TRESIDENT OE THE UNITED STATES : 



DELIVERED AT ROXBURY, APRIL 16th, 184L 



B"Sr GEORGi; PUTNAM, 

MINISTER OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN ROXBURY. 



?^_ 



OF.CC' 






BOSTON : 

WILLIAM CROSBY AND CO, 

118 Washington Street 

1841. 



L 



Eatcred according to Act of Congress, in the Year Eighteen Hundred and Forty-one, 

BY WILLIAM CROSBY AND CO., 

In tlie Clark's Ollice of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



Printed by S. N. Dickinson, 
62 Washington Street. 



EoxBURY, April 17, 1841. 
Kev'd. Sir, 

We have been directed by the Committee of 
Arrangements in this town, for paying due honor to the 
memory of the illustrious William Henry Harrison, late 
President of the United States, to tender the most grateful 
acknowledgments for the very interesting, instructive and 
eminently moral character of the eloquent Eulogy, which you 
delivered, before a thronged and highly gratified auditory, on 
the day of the solemnities ; and to request, that you would 
furnish a copy for publication. 

With sentiments of the highest respect, 

Your most Ob't. Servants, 

H. A. S. DEARBORN, 



B. F. COPELAND, 
FRANKLIN WHITE. 



Rev'd. George Putnam. 



RoxBURY, April 19, 1841. 
Gentlemen, 

I am gratified by your assurance that the 
Eulogy delivered by me was acceptable to my fellow citizens. 
Your request that a copy be furnished for publication is 
respectfully complied with. 

With sentiments of respect, 

Your Ob't. Servant, 

GEORGE PUTNAM. 
Messrs. H. A. S. Dearborn, 
B. F. Copeland, 
Franklin White. 



DISCOUESE. 



There is wisdom and great propriety in the 
observance of these funeral solemnities. The 
ceremonial should not have been omitted. " Death 
is entered into our palaces. A great man is fallen 
in our Israel." The bereaved family is a nation. 
There is mourning throughout the half of a conti- 
nent. It is fit, therefore, that the proprieties of 
mourning observance, ordinarily limited to a single 
dwelling and a few kindred, should be transferred 
to the open temples and the great assembhes of the 
people, and be made co-extensive with the feelings 
which they indicate. The knell knolling from our 
church-towers, the minute guns booming from our 
hill-tops, the martial array, the dirge, tlie cypress, 
tlie sackcloth, the badges of grief, the emblems of 
mortahty, the solemn pageantry of our funeral 
obsequies, and the voice of man seeking to give a 
human language and interpretation to all these silent 
monitors, — these ai'e tlie befitting manifestation of 



honor to the memory of a revered and trusted 
ruler ; the suitable expression of a nation's sorrow ; 
the token that God's dread providence is not ad- 
dressing itself to careless minds or unmoved hearts ; 
a pledge that the impression of the time shall not pass 
away unimproved and fruitless, but shall subserve 
the cause of patriotism and religion — the righteous- 
ness that exalteth a nation. So we do well to set 
up these memorials of the afflictive event. And I 
thank God that we have good assurance that all this 
is no seeming show, no unreal mockery of grief, — 
that the outward proceedings do not outrun the in- 
ward feeling. We would not have to do what 
should impair the integrity of the nation's heart. I 
am glad to believe that in these transactions it is not 
impaired, — that what is done is felt. 

The decease of the President of the United States 
has produced a deep sensation far and wide through- 
out the length and breadth of the land. With the 
greater part of our citizens the tidings have awaken- 
ed strong and heartfelt emotions of grief and disap- 
pointment ; and all right-minded men must have 
been deeply impressed, and moved to serious reflec- 
tions. With many, 1 am sure, it is no common 
sorrow. Millions do feel themselves to be truly 
bereaved by the death of this one man, and are 



sincere mourners for him, mourning, not perhaps 
unto tears — yes, often unto tears even, — at least 
with the sadness and painful depression of a real 
affliction. 

It is supposed to be the tendency of RepubHcan 
Institutions to divest the relation between a people 
and their high rulers of all sentiment, to strip it of 
all sacredness except such as the force of human 
law may give it, and make it a mere business rela- 
tion, a matter of political interest and worldly cal- 
culation. No doubt there is some truth in this idea. 
The people possessing the supreme power themselves 
in theory, themselves mixed up with and familiarly 
handling all tlie machinery by which power is con- 
ferred and taken away — a machinery which is often, 
and in many parts of it, low, vulgar, polluted and 
polluting, — it could hardly be expected that there 
should be much of high and disinterested sentiment 
entertained towards the ruler, who, as a ruler, is the 
result of such a process — a process in which there 
is and must be, more of policy and of passion than 
of heart and sentiment. No American citizen will 
deny that we gain in other respects a thousand times 
more than we lose in this way. And yet a loss of 
this sort may be real. Men pay their reverence to 
that which is above them, and which depends on 



8 

and proceeds from, a higher power than their own. 
We are not hkcly to have, in any high degree, feel- 
ings of veneration or elevated attachment towards 
an object of which we are ourselves the sole au- 
thors — the instrument which our own hands do 
make and unmake. The lowness of the process 
strips the result of something of its impressive 
sanctity. Probably we can have but an imperfect 
conception of the nature of that feeling towards high 
and trusted rulers, which has generally prevailed in 
other countries. 

Some persons may remember the feeling mani- 
fested in England, on the death of the Princess 
Charlotte, in 1817. Judging from the nature of the 
case, and from the language of the press and the 
pulpit on that occasion, there was literally a nation 
in tears, afflicted to the heart's deep fountain of 
emotion. She was one whom from her position, 
and from the excellent and endearing qualities as- 
cribed to her. Englishmen could not but regard and 
did regard, as feeling an interest for the welfare and 
happiness of them all, and their children — soon to 
be their sceptred ruler, a delegated ruler, the ob- 
ject of no party feehng, elevated by no party tri- 
umph, not created by their own hands, but designated, 
according to the constitution and the national senti- 



ment, designated by Heaven, raised up by an all 
ruling Providence to her high station, and gifted 
with the endowments to fill it worthily and benefi- 
cently. So there was a reverence towards her, as 
it were toward the Lord's anointed, — reverence 
and strong affection, — and her death sent a deep 
feeling of awe and grief through the realm, and the 
heart of a great people was stricken with conster- 
nation and woe. 

We justly rejoice in those institutions and circum- 
stances, which in a great measure preclude such a 
feeling here, or materially modify it, honorable and 
elevated as it is. And yet there seems now to be 
more of it, or something approaching nearer to it, 
than one would have supposed could be awakened 
here. 

There is after all a something more, an indefi- 
nable something more, than a formal tie and a legal 
relation between a faithful ruler and the people 
over whom he presides ; — a something that is not 
expressed in the Constitution, but is written in the 
heart. We exclude the theory, but we cannot, if 
we would, quite suppress the fact, the soul's instinc- 
tive perception and feehng, that in some sense a 
divinity doth encircle a great and responsible station. 

We cannot, if we would, quite exclude the idea that 

2 



10 

there is a Providence of God that mixes witli the 
providence of man, in shaping the destinies of a 
nation. 

There still remains, and as long as patriotism sur- 
vives, and law and order prevail, there will remain 
some meaning for the heart at least, in the Apostle's 
declaration, that " the powers that be are ordained 
of God." 

Take a person who has had, on the one hand, a 
calm and reasonable partiality and confidence to- 
wards the late chief magistrate, and on the other 
hand has had no expectation of obtaining personal 
advantage, political or pecuniary, through his agency, 
nor has been wedded to him by a feehng of mere 
partizan triumph, but has been free to regard him 
disinterestedly and dispassionately, simply as the 
competent and well-intentioned magistrate, the im- 
personation of law and order, the appointed guar- 
dian of the rights and interests of all, — I suppose 
that such a person, and tens of thousands of such 
persons, have had a feehng towards him somewhat 
akin to that ancient sentiment of loyalty, which in 
some centuries has been one of the most powerful 
sentiments in the breasts of mankind, and is not yet 
extinct in the old world, — nor even here, though 
greatly and most hai)})ily changed as to its direction 



11 



and influence. This unexpected blow has shown it 
to exist to a degree of which we were not aware 
before. 

I know I have for one, and let me speak it, for I 
am sure it is but mving utterance to the thoughts of 
my fellow citizens, — I say I have for one a feehng 
of personal bereavement, and a personal sorrow ; a 
sense of a relation to him and a nearness to him of 
which I was not conscious before — the feelinir as 
of a real tie broken, a near friend taken away, and 
a sort of protecting arm and guardian spirit, on 
which I had unconsciously leaned, withdrawn. The 
sentiment may not bear analysis, and yet 1 do feel, 
for the first time, as if that ruler, though he knew not 
of my individual existence, by virtue of his office 
were in some sort a father unto me and my children, 
and watched for me, and labored for me, and perhaps 
died for me and my country. I beheve that great 
multitudes throughout the land, quite independently 
of party considerations or political measures, do 
shai-e this sentiment, all undefined, it may be, and 
mixed up with other feelings, and they themselves 
unconscious of its nature, yet a real feeling, with 
its living root in the deep heart. Some may call it 
affected and fooHsh, but it is not that, — it is a worthy 
and a wholesome feeling ; and though it be sad to 



12 



oppressiveness, for one I would not smother it nor 
root it out if I could. I respect myself and my 
countrymen the more for its existence. I am willing 
for my own heart's sake to be a mourner. And for 
patriotism's sake I rejoice in the assurance that a real 
sorrow can and does pervade the nation, because 
death has removed its constituted head. We need 
not be jealous of the feehng. It will not endanger 
our liberties, and it may improve our hearts. 

I hope I have not been understood to say that the 
American people feel veneration and attachment 
for their magistrates, merely because they fill high 
offices, or without regard to their conduct and 
character. Nothing could be further from the 
truth. We subject their pretensions to the most 
rigid scrutiny, and never knowingly pay the heart's 
tribute of loyal honor to any thing but high desert, 
a patriotic spirit, a wise and true-hearted man. The 
people may be misled and mistaken, but as a body 
they so far maintain their integrity, that they mean 
to elevate only the best, the true man, — to honor no 
other in life, to lament no other in death. It is 
because they beheved the late President to be such 
a man that they raised him up, and gave him their 
confidence and affection while he hved, and give 
his memory tlie tribute of their sorrow, now that he 



]3 



is dead. And I congratulate you, my countrymen, 
all, of every party and opinion — for the name and 
memory of the President is now the property, 
unto honor or dishonor, of the whole nation — I 
give you all joy that nothing has ever been brought 
to light, after the searching ordeal of a republican 
canvass, nothing to raise so much as a well founded 
suspicion, that our confidence, veneration and love, 
or our sorrow and tears, have been misplaced or 
unworthily bestowed. 

It is not for such as I am, to undertake the critical 
delineation of his hfe and character. That service 
belongs to statesmen — to his cotemporaries — to the 
well furnished civil and military historian. Such 
will do it, and are already doing it. We will learn 
of them what we would know. But I should fail 
of my duty to the dead and the living, and leave the 
transactions of this day incomplete, if I did not 
give such a shght sketch as any intelligent citizen 
is competent to furnish. 

William Henry Harrison, the son of a Vir- 
ginia patriot of the school of the Revolution and 
a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was 
born Feb. 9, 1773. He became President of the 
United States, March 4, 1 841 , and died on the 4th 
of April next ensuing. He received as good an 



14 



education as Virginia at tliat time afforded her youth. 
At nineteen he accepted a commission in the army, 
and repaired to the western frontier, at that time 
the scene of a remorseless Indian warfare. He was 
appointed to difficult and responsible tasks, and his 
conduct, in the camp and the battle-field, received 
the warmest applause of his commander. After 
about five years' service, peace being restored, he 
left the army and began his civil career. He was 
first made Secretary of the North A\ estern Territo- 
ry, and then a Delegate to Congress from the same. 
He was then for many years the Governor of the 
Indiana Territory, under the appointment of three 
successive Presidents. In 1816 he was elected a 
Representative in Congress from Ohio, and in 1824 
a Senator in Congress from the same state. In 1828 
he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the 
Ptepublic of Colombia, from whence he was soon 
recalled, and from that time he remained in private 
life till his presidency. In these various stations I 
have not seen it dispassionately denied that he 
served with honor to himself, and usefulness to his 
country. 

It was during the war with the British and Indians 
in the western country, from 1811 to 1814, that 
Gen. llai-rison enacted the most conspicuous part 



15 



I of his career, and acquired most distinction. I will 

o-ive no details of his battles and victories. I dis- 
claim all competency to discuss military merit. I 

I only know that he was accounted brave, prudent, in- 

defatigable, humane and successful, which I suppose 
are the attributes of a good soldier. I perceive him 
to have been a commander whom Presidents, and 
Vice Presidents, Congresses, Governors and State 
Legislatures, his compatriots in arms, and the people 
of his time, repeatedly, constantly, by resolutions, 
despatches, medals, and all private and public 
methods, loaded with testimonials of approbation, 
gratitude and honor. I rest content with such 
authority, because there is none higher to appeal to. 
Who is there to impeach a reputation so acquired and 
established? In those testimonials, we find abun- 
dant acknowledgments of the " gallantry," " intre- 
pidity," and "brilliant achievements" of a brave 
General ; and greatly to be honored is the man who 
could gain such laurels in a worthy cause, — the pro- 
tection of women and children from savage ferocity, 
and the scattered population of an exposed frontier, 
from fire and sword, captivity and annihilation. 
But I will pass by these expressions that indicate his 
military standing. They are the common tribute to 
the military deservings of every great commander. 



IG 



Tlioy interest me less than some other qualities of 
which I find indications. As I cast my eye over 
those old documents that give us the events and 
feelings of the time, my attention is arrested hy 
different words, which I love to see applied to one 
whom we have since delighted to honor. I see, 
all along in various letters and military papers, the 
word " beloved," applied to him again and again. 
Now he is called, in a business letter, " this beloved 
man, uniting in himself the entire confidence of the 
western people." — Again, "the excellent, the uni- 
versally beloved Harrison," — and again, the '•'■beloved 
Harrison," — and yet again, the " beloved chieftain 
Harrison," — "the Washington of the West," as 
they were fond of calling him in those days. These 
expressions interest me more than those which bear 
witness to his abilities or his valor, though I would 
not have them separated. The qualities that win 
confidence and aflfection are the truest gems in a 
great man's crown of honor, imparting more lustre 
to his intellect than they receive from it. 

After makino^ allowance for exao^oerated state- 
ments on either side, and judging from the best in- 
formation we have, I diink it is not to be doubted, 
that the late President added to large experience 
and respectable attainments, substantial abilities, that 



17 



fitted him to fill worthily any station that required 
wisdom and energy, sagacity and firmness, however 
high, and qualified him independently of official 
consequence, to take his place in counsel or action, 
among great men, as an equal among equals. But 
on this point I will make no argument and bring no 
testimony ; for a funeral discourse it would be un- 
suitable, and for history it is unnecessary. Besides 
it is not his highest praise, nor his truest eulogy. 
We know well enough that he had from early youth 
discharged high and responsible trusts with ability 
and success. But let that pass. I deem it a far 
greater thing that he discharged them all from first 
to last with unsuUied purity and an unbending 
rectitude, stained nor warped, never, — there is not 
a Hving voice or a written record to charge it, — 
never for a moment, by the cursed thirst of gold or 
self-aggrandizement. He discharged pubhc duties 
ably and faithfully, — but what is greater than that 
and the guarantee of that, he was a high-principled 
and exemplary man, a Christian man, in all the rela- 
tions of life. He could raise himself to posts of 
dignity and power, and the highest places in his 
country's notice and esteem ; and what is more and 
greater, he could preserve there a downright sim- 
plicity, and the plainest tastes and manners. He 

3 



18 

could lead armies and govern men ; and greater and 
rarer than that, O! how mucli greater and rarer, 
he could govern himself, and rule his own spirit in 
the fear of God. We are assured that he was brave 
and dauntless; — I am more glad to know that 
besides this, he was mild and gentle, and disinter- 
ested and tender-hearted. We infer from many 
passages of his hfe, and by the testimony of many 
who knew him, that he was distinguished for a 
warm-hearted aftectionateness and a self-forgetting 
generosity. The very infirmities that have been 
attributed to him, are such as usually mark a frank 
and kindly nature, and are incompatible with the 
cold and dark designs of selfishness. One of the 
last acts of his life, a letter written in behalf of an 
humble friend in distress, shows how beautifully, how 
touchingly, as indeed the tenor of his life shows — 
that his sympathy for his fellow citizens, his fellow 
creatures, for his brother man, did outrun, preclude, 
and annihilate all pride of place, all love of ease or 
etiquette or money or power. A good heart, thank 
God, is sometimes stronger than them all. I think 
we know enough of the man to understand how that 
epithet, the beloved^ came to be so frequently applied 
to his name in former years, and why it still cleaves 



19 

to him, outshining his fame, and outHving the col- 
hsions of party and the grandeur of office. 

From contemplating these traits of a great and 
good man, I return with a pang to the thought that 
he is gone, and that these are his funeral honors. 
And yet, why should it be with a pang ? There is a 
fit and beautiful, though tender and sad association, 
between goodness and death, patriotism and death, 
love and death. No death is so melancholy as an 
unregretted, unwept one. We would not that his 
life had been less valued and dear, that his death 
might be less lamented. We will bear it with sub- 
mission, that the career of the Magistrate should 
have been cut short, and left undistinguished by 
public measures, in order that the character of the 
Man may be his chief, as it is ever the highest and 
most precious, legacy and lesson to his country. We 
will bear it, almost willingly, that the fruits of his 
pohcy, whatever they may have been, should be de- 
nied us, lest, however beneficent, they should have 
withdi-awn our regards from the higher attributes of 
his greatness, and left, at last, a more earthly, less 
hallowed memorial of his patriotism and his virtues 
in the breasts of his people. And seeing it hath 
pleased the Infinite wisdom to remove him, we will 
rejoice that his character and memory seem as truly 



20 

in harmony with the kingdom of heaven as with the 
high places of earth. Seeing that the robes of 
office must fall off so soon, and the shroud be put on, 
we will bless God for the assurance that they covered 
a Christian heart, humble and devout, trusting in the 
Redeemer, at peace and ready to depart. I rejoice 
with you, my Christian fellow citizens, that Religion, 
who, whatever had been the man, must lift up her 
voice on such an occasion, is not put in constraint ; 
that tlie necessity which is laid upon her, is now per- 
fect freedom to her ; that she is not obliged to put 
on a mask, or disguise her genuine tones, and pro- 
nounce a heathenish panegyric of what has been 
great or dazzling in a career of earthly ambition and 
power ; that she may pass by the trappings of this 
world's honor, and as befits her office, follow the 
private walk, and enter into the closet, and sit down 
by the death bed of the great man, and find her 
own spirit and superscription there ; that she may 
bend over his grave, and in the heavenward vision 
of her own bright faith, follow his released spirit to 
the unseen world, and without jarring or discrep- 
ancy, speak of the promises of God to the righteous, 
and the good man's gain in dying. A beautiful and 
happy thing it is, that Religion herself can pronounce 
the eulogy of our highest man, a nation's choice, 



21 



and yet be true to herself, her mission of humiUty 
and hohness, her message of immortahty and sal- 
vation. 

He is gone full of years and of honors, — with a 
prepared spirit, and a Christian's humble hope, he 
has ceased from his labors, and gone to his rest. 
Peace be to him. Our benedictions follow him. 
The place where his ashes repose shall be hallowed 
ground to a mourning nation. His name shall al- 
ways be spoken with respect. Our affectionate re- 
membrance of him shall Uve while we live. We 
will speak of him to our children, and they shall tell 
their children in distant years to come, how we, their 
fathers, loved and lamented the Good President — 

*' Ours and our country's friend." 

He is gone — and there is nothing left for a be- 
reaved nation, but to yield up tlie hopes that had 
centred in him, to bow down in submission beneath 
the chastening hand of Almighty God, to pay its due 
tribute of honor to the memory of departed worth 
and greatness, and lay the awful admonition wisely 
and humbly to heart. 

The melancholy event we are contemplating pre- 
sents a striking lesson of the mutability of human 
affairs, and dull and insensible must that heart be, 



22 



that is not opened to the impression. A few short 
weeks ago, a private man, called forth by the loud 
acclaim, and uplifted as on the outspread hands, of 
a mighty people, was borne along in triumphal pro- 
cession through the streets of the Capital, to be in- 
vested with the highest dignities that are in the gift 
of mankind. He is the centre of a pageant, not 
perhaps the most dazzling in outward show, but 
more sublime in the inner idea and meaning than 
all the empires of the elder world can exliibit, — the 
object of eager gaze to gathered thousands there, 
and of intense interest to scattered millions else- 
where. The pealing shout of multitudes rends the 
air, as he seals his high commission with the rever- 
ent oath ; and he is borne, amid acclamations, to a 
palace home, and stands there, the chiefest, fore- 
most man of a broad continent — the equal of 
kings — high as the highest on earth. A few days 
pass by, and the mortal body of that same man is 
borne along the same track, in the sad and silent pomp 
of funeral woe, and laid away alone, in the dark 
tomb, to moulder back to kindred dust and ashes. 

One month ago, and the Executive mansion was 
alive with rejoicings, hospitalities, and congratula- 
tions — crowds thronging thither to gratify curiosity 
or signify their respect, to offer service and seek 



23 



employment or honor at the fountain of a nation's pa- 
tronage — officers of State, to give their counsel and 
receive commands — ambassadors in robes of office^ 
to tender tlie felicitations of their royal masters, and 
renew the pledges of amity and peace between sove- 
reign powers — public and private men from the 
north and the south — the wise, the ambitious, the 
high and the low — the gay, curious, and pleasure 
seeking, are coming and going, crowding the hghted 
halls, in honor of him who presides there. But 
what a change comes over the scene — as striking as 
it is awful and sad ! The doors are closed up, the 
windows are darkened, there is the silent tread of 
nurses and physicians, the hard breathing of a sick 
man, anxious consultations, the agonized solicitude 
of loving kindred, looks of apprehension all around, 
messengers going forth hour by hour, with tidings to 
startle and appal more and more a nation's ear — 
there is the low voice of prayer and Christian con- 
solation over a dying bed and a mortal man in the 
last extremity — and then the last effort of sinking 
nature, to utter a patriot's dying aspiration — and 
then stillness, the awful stillness of death. The chief 
pillar of the state is fallen down — a nation's head 
lies low in its last rest — and there is no sound there 
but the cries of women, and the sobbings of chil- 



24 



dren for a fond and beloved father, and the low 
tones of the last mournful preparation. And yet, 
it is a palace and the seat of an empire, that is so 
changed. O, what a shadow and a mockery is all 
human greatness ! How feeble the strength, how 
deceitful the hope of man, how empty and vain the 
grandeur and prerogatives of earthly power ! How 
do they all fade away beneath the hand of Him 
" who bringeth the princes to nothing ; who maketli 
the judges of the earth as vanity ; who says they 
shall not be planted ; yea, they shall not be soAvn ; 
yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth ; and 
he shall blow upon them, and they shall wither, and 
the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble." 

We will hope and pray that God's blessing may 
attend this chastening of his hand, and good influ- 
ences upon the country's welfare follow in the foot- 
steps of this afflictive visitation. May he whose 
duty it has become to assume the reins of govern- 
ment, and all those who shall succeed to that high 
office hereafter, and occupy that dwelling which is 
now the house of mourninir and of death — when 
they enter there clothed with dieir great trust, may 
they pause upon the threshold, and in lowliness of 
mind take in the solenmity that henceforth fills the 
place ; may they remember that the foot-prints of 



25 

the King of Terrors are there, even there, and that 
palace doors are no bar to that dread message which 
awaits the high and the low alike. So may they rule 
in the fear of God, who is King of kings and high- 
er than the highest, — and putting away all unhal- 
lowed ambition, and all unrighteous judgment, be 
faithful to their stewardship, as unto God their judge. 
May the national councils, soon to be assembled, be 
impressed by the solemn admonition, and like Chris- 
tian men, in the fear of God and the love of their 
country, put away rancor and malice, and selfish 
ends, and party strifes, and through wisdom and 
righteousness, forbearance and concihation, address 
themselves, with however diverse opinions, yet as 
with one patriot mind to the wants and interests of 
a confiding country. 

And may the whole nation lay to heart this dread 
dispensation of God. What a rebuke does it speak 
to us, of our reliance on human things. It seems 
but yesterday, that the hot strife for ascendancy was 
raging. The majority, on their part, were contend- 
ing, as they were opposed — contending with all the 
forces of reason and argument, of wit and ridicule, 
of truth and deception, of song and shout and pa- 
geantry, appealing to the highest interests and to the 
4 



26 



lowest motives — alike contending, like their adver- 
saries, with burning zeal and untiring activity, doing 
every thing, sacrificing every thing, to achieve what 
they deemed their country's dehverance and prosper- 
ity ; and then when they had prevailed, and had 
placed the helm in the hands they trusted, and had 
secured the end they aimed at, and just paused to 
contemplate the result, — tlien, just then, death stalks 
upon the scene and demonstrates the futility and com- 
parative littleness of it all. So, sooner or later, it 
always is. We raise up our bulwarks of power and 
prosperity, adorn them, fortify them, establish them on 
the firmest rocks of earth, we begin to glory in them, 
and then the hand of the Destroyer is stretched out, 
and sets the stamp of vanity on all we have done, and 
the proudest work of our hands crumbles away and 
is gone. 

May we not hope that for a time at least, this 
impressive lesson will tend to abate the violence of 
party, and by mutual consent of those opposed to 
each other, produce by its affecting monitions, more 
candor, moderation, and harmony in tlie selection 
of rulers, and the conflict of opinions, and the ad- 
ministration of public affairs? It should be so. 
God's Providence seems to be instructing every 



27 



man that for righteousness' sake it should be so. 
For the sake of peace and rehgion and patriotism 
and brotherly love, it should be so. From beneath 
that coffin-lid, that has just closed forever upon the 
form of our venerable chief magistrate, there comes 
a voice declaring, with the solemnities of death and 
eternity, that it should be so. It were better so, 
when we all shall have followed him to that dread 
and mysterious bourne, and left to our children the 
memory of our example and the fruit of our doings. 
Seldom if ever, I believe, has there been a great 
ruler, here or elsewhere, who has more clearly per- 
ceived and in his own course more constantly exem- 
phfied the truth, that the moral law is the first lesson 
of wise statesmanship, and the only sufficient basis 
of a nation's permanence and welfare, than our late 
lamented chief. Deny to him the possession of 
shining talents, if you will. I only care to know that 
to a good understanding and a warm heart, he ad- 
ded that principle of rectitude, which is talent and 
more than talent, safer than genius, shrewder than 
cunning, the truest sagacity, the soundest judgment, 
the most clear sighted and unerring policy, whether 
in a private or a public station. Here, as I suppose, 
lay the chief merits of the President, — that he did 



28 



fear God and keep His law, both in his own hfe and 
liis country's service. It is for this cause I speak 
his Eulogy, and but for this I would have been 
dumb, though the stones had cried out upon my 
recreancy. Rather cut out my tongue, than require 
it to lavish praises on any man that does not recog- 
nise God's moral law, both in his creed and liis life, 
and rule others and himself by its behests. None 
but a virtuous and high-principled man can serve 
his country to any lasting good purpose. There 
are those who think, or seem to think, that they may 
set at nought, not only the rules of personal virtue, 
but the principles of truth and justice, kindness and 
charity, to accomplish a political end which they 
deem for their country's good. Away with such 
patriots that belie the noble name of patriot. 
They can do no good to the Republic. They would 
put up a paltry scaffolding around the national tem- 
ple, which does but weaken the hold and rot out the 
heart of the great upholding beam of principle 
within it. We talk of public evils from time to 
time, and doubdess they are real enough, and we 
would apply remedies, and we do well ; but we should 
know, that slight and temporary and hardly worth 
the pains are all healing, all expedients and specifics, 



29 



unless at the same time the basis of the moral law is 
widening and strengthening underneath. As well 
take bulrushes to stop the ocean tide, as well quench 
the sun that our taper may look bright, as for a ruler 
or a people to think of advancing a true and abiding 
welfare, except in connexion with a growing eleva- 
tion of moral sentiment, and a growing obedience 
to the Ahnighty's law. 

There must be excited action on public affairs, we 
know, but it does become every good citizen, every 
Christian magistrate and man, to take care that the 
ever returning din do not stifle and drown the voice 
of the moral law of truth and love, which is a still 
small voice indeed, but yet is mightier to pronounce 
the fiat of our destiny than the loudest shouts of 
triumph, or the rejoicings of universal prosperity. 
It is necessary that we should take thought for our 
pubhc interests, and labor at them, with activity and 
zeal : but it is not necessary, it is not fit, that they 
should enslave our hearts and inflame our passions 
and undermine our principles, and put out of view 
the irreversible laws of Jehovali. Patriotism and 
rehgion, heaven and earth forbid it. This is the 
admonition that comes to us from the calm and vir- 
tuous career, the moral wisdom, the rehgious con- 



30 

science, and the large and loving heart of Harrison. 
It is the lesson taught hy his noble life. It is hal- 
lowed by his saintly death. Be it cmbahned in his 
memory, and perpetuated to us and to coming gen- 
erations. 



MR. PUTNAM'S EULOGY 



ON 



PRESIDENT HARRISON, 




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